ដោយសារការរាតត្បាតនៃជម្ងឺកូវីឌ១៩ និងការរំខានដល់សេវាកម្មប្រៃសណីយអន្តរជាតិ
យើងបានផ្អាកជាបណ្តោះអាសន្ននូវ "សេវាកម្មសៀវភៅបោះពុម្ពដោយឥតគិតថ្លៃ" របស់យើង។
នៅក្នុងស្ថានភាពបែបនេះ យើងមិនអាចផ្ញើសៀវភៅទៅកាន់លោកអ្នកបានឡើយ។
សូមអធិស្ឋានសម្រាប់ការរលាយបាត់យ៉ាងឆាប់រហ័សនូវជម្ងឺរាតត្បាតនេះ និងការដំណើរការឡើងវិញនូវសេវាកម្មប្រៃសណីយ។
សូមអធិស្ឋានសម្រាប់ការរលាយបាត់យ៉ាងឆាប់រហ័សនូវជម្ងឺរាតត្បាតនេះ និងការដំណើរការឡើងវិញនូវសេវាកម្មប្រៃសណីយ។
Subject 19 : The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the EPHESIANS
[Chapter 6-2] Stand Against The Wiles of Satan (Ephesians 6:10-17)
(Ephesians 6:10-17)
“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”
The saints must be strong in their hearts. As we are living in these end times, we must live by our strong faith in the righteousness of the Lord. The problem, however, is that the saints and even the servants of God tend to be weak-hearted. Sometimes even the saints have to be cold-hearted for the gospel, for when they can’t bring themselves to be so, they can’t be used by God as His instruments for His righteous work. If you allow your heart to weaken like this, you cannot properly carry out the righteous work of God. If God’s servants and saints are weak-hearted, they cannot run towards God steadfastly and unwaveringly. It is therefore very important for the servants and the saints of God alike to strengthen their hearts with their faith in God. They also must have the fear of God in their hearts.
All who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit in this present age must have both an unwavering faith and a strong body. That’s because if God’s servants and saints are weak-hearted, they are more likely to compromise with this world, and it would also be more difficult for them to follow the righteousness of the Lord to the end. No matter what anyone says, all of us must be strong in our knowledge of and faith in the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit. Such a strong heart of faith is absolutely indispensable to us to stand up to any and all enemies opposing the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit and never give in to them.
The Apostle Paul said here in today’s Scripture reading, “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil” (Ephesians 6:10-11). Some people say that I am strong-willed when they see my faith. But the strength of my faith does not come from my personality, but it is drawn from the gospel power of the water and the Spirit. That’s because unless my faith is strengthened by God and His gospel of the water and the Spirit, I will inevitably kneel before my enemies.
Were it not for my wholehearted faith in the righteousness of God and my sincere fear of God, I would have given up my ministry by now. It’s because the Lord gave me strong faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit and the heart to fear God that I could answer my calling to preach the gospel all over the world. I could have never followed the Lord by any means other than my fear of God and my faith in His righteousness. There is a saying in Korea that goes, “The train moves no matter how loudly a dog barks at it.” So even when I face many detractors, I say to them, “You can bark all you want, but I will go on my way of the Truth.” No matter what anyone says to us, all of us must march forth by our faith in God and His gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Therefore, when we look at ourselves, let us not look subjectively but through God’s eyes. We are bearing witness of the Truth, testifying to everyone that the gospel of the water and the Spirit is the real Truth of salvation, not the gospel of only the Cross. So we can run towards the goal God has set for us only if we have a strong heart and strong faith. Only then can we reach the destination that God wants us all to reach.
We have been able to live by such faith to this day all because of the gospel of salvation that our Lord has given us and the faith to fear God. This is so obvious. We’ve been able to serve God not because we have a strong will or a resilient personality, but because we have become God’s soldiers through our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit that constitutes the Lord’s righteousness. We have kept this faith until this very day. And we must continue to live by trusting in the righteousness of the Lord.
Do you know just how many people are opposing us and trying to prevent us from following our Lord and His righteousness? Do you know how ferociously these detractors are standing against us and trying to bring us down? Yet even so, we have never surrendered our faith to them. As far as our faith in the righteousness of God is concerned, we have never surrendered it cowardly to anyone but always stood up in its defense. The Apostle Paul also said here, “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might” (Ephesians 6:10). This passage clearly teaches us to strengthen ourselves by trusting in the righteousness of the Lord.
It’s to defend our faith that we are standing up to all the opponents of the gospel of the water and the Spirit. When we are mercilessly attacked and derided by our detractors, are we supposed to just smile at them without putting up any resistance? No, we ought to defeat them by our faith. Our hearts must be strong enough to stand against all such opponents of the righteousness of God and tell them clearly that their faith is wrong.
If you allow yourself to be weak-hearted even as you believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, then you will end up surrendering to the opponents of the righteousness of God. This is actually what happened to many weak-hearted saints. So we must never allow our faith to become weak. It’s not only a grave sin for our hearts to be weakened before God, but it will also turn us into His enemies. Far from praising the righteousness of God, such weak-hearted people will end up turning into God’s opponents and eventually stand up against His righteousness. Referring to the Pharisees, the Lord said through the Apostle Paul, “For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God” (Romans 10:3). All of us ought to engrave the Word of God in our hearts and stand up to all such hypocritical opponents courageously by faith. It’s a serious mistake for the people of God to be weak-hearted.
We Must Stand by Our Unwavering Faith and Faithfully Carry Out God’s Work
The righteous must use their faith in God’s righteousness against all their opponents regardless of whether they are strong or weak. That’s because we have this duty to guide all who still have not received the remission of sins into the Truth of salvation. To do so, we ourselves must first be standing firmly by faith on the side of the righteous God. The foremost duty of God’s people and servants is to carry out His work, and to fulfill this duty, they must have wisdom, faith, fear of God, perseverance and hard labor. Even though the people of this world stand up against us the believers in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, we must work even harder to guide them into Christ by trusting in the Lord’s righteousness. And to achieve this, we must stand ever more firmly on our faith.
No saint can follow God’s righteousness if his faith in this righteousness of God is too weak. You must remember this clearly. Our hearts must have faith in the Lord’s righteousness, and our minds must be set on the righteousness of God. For us to live out our faith, we must first make up our minds to follow God’s righteousness.
To carry out God’s work properly, we should never allow our faith in the righteousness of God to be weakened. We cannot afford to be weak in such an evil world if we really want to live by trusting in God’s righteousness. Far from it, our faith must be strong. I want your faith in the righteousness of God to be strengthened even more than your body. It’s our faith in the Lord’s righteousness that all of us must be strengthened.
Our temporal circumstances can change easily. There are windy days, foggy days, sunny days, and rainy days. Just as day and night come and go constantly, the present situation of our lives can change all the time. However, my fellow believers, our lives of faith that are led by trusting in the righteousness of God should never change. The harder our lives turn, the stronger our faith in the righteousness of God must become. So let us not fear the windy storm that’s ahead of us, for the stronger the wind is, the farther the fragrance of the gospel is spread, just as it’s written in the Song of Solomon:
“Awake, O north wind,
And come, O south!
Blow upon my garden,
That its spices may flow out.
Let my beloved come to his garden
And eat its pleasant fruits” (Song of Solomon 4:16).
My fellow believers, if we really have faith in the righteousness of the Lord, then the more difficult the circumstances of our lives become, the more we will rely on the righteousness of God. It’s actually when our physical circumstances are too comfortable that we struggle to carry out God’s work, not when our circumstances are too difficult. All of us therefore ought to pray to our Lord to give us unwavering faith in His righteousness, and ask Him earnestly to help us live by faith. And we must abide by our faith in the Lord’s righteousness and live according to the will of God, always strengthening ourselves in the Lord. It’s by the power and strength of the Lord that we are made strong; and it’s by our faith in the Lord’s righteousness that we can defeat all our enemies.
God Commanded Us to “Stand Against the Wiles of the Devil” (Ephesians 6:11)
What must we do to stand against the evil wiles of the Devil? We must put on the whole armor of God by faith. Paul said here in Ephesians 6:11-12: “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” He then went on to say in the following verse, “Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand” (Ephesians 6:13). The Lord clearly told us to stand against the wiles of the Devil.
The Bible also tells us that we do not wrestle against flesh and blood. This means that our struggle is not against the physical force and violence of any human beings. Rather, the Lord told us to fight against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Who is the enemy that we the righteous must fight? The enemy in our battle is the Devil. We should never fear the Devil or lose our courage before him. Satan is working in this world along with the rulers of the darkness of this age. People are being ruled by the Devil.
We must therefore stand against Satan by our faith in the righteousness of God. That’s because the Lord told us to trust in God’s Word, take it by faith, and stand against the Devil. Satan has the power to rule over everything in this world. All the institutions in this world are under Satan’s clutch, and the Devil is working through such instruments of control. That is why we have no choice but to fight against all who are seized by evil spirits.
God Told Us to Stand Against the Devil with God’s Word
It’s written in Ephesians 6:16-17, “Above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” The Lord clearly told us here to fight Satan with the Word of God. He is saying to us to stand against the servants of Satan by trusting in the Word of God. And He also told us to take the shield of faith above all in our battle against the Devil.
What does it mean to take the shield of faith into our battle? It means that we must fight the evil servants of Satan by our faith in the Word of God. One of the characteristics of Satan’s work is that it’s divisive. The “fiery darts” in today’s Scripture passage implies that we are at war. Satan shoots the fiery darts of condemnation at every sinner to enslave and bind everyone in sin. That’s why we are spreading the gospel of the water and the Spirit, preaching the Truth that Jesus has blotted out all the sins of this world once and for all with the gospel of the water and the Spirit. We must therefore wash away everyone’s sins with the gospel of Truth, which is the sword of the Word of God.
In modern warfare, the attacking force usually begins its assault by bombing the enemy camp into rubble. After the air campaign is over, ground troops are sent in to sweep away the remaining enemy forces and occupy the land.
The work that we are doing now for the gospel of the water and the Spirit is akin to what’s done by ground troops. Jesus has already blotted out all the sins of this world once and for all with His righteous work of salvation. The Lord has completely eradicated each and every sin in this world once and for all with the gospel of the water and the Spirit. All that we are doing now is just spreading this news to everyone around the world. In other words, our Jesus has already dealt a preemptive strike against Satan with the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and the only remaining task for us is to march into the spiritual battlefield of this world, preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and deliver all who believe in this gospel from the condemnation of their sins and the power of Satan. By doing so we can “quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one” (Ephesians 6:16) just as the Lord commanded us.
Satan Shakes People’s Hearts with Tricky Schemes
The Devil poisons people’s souls with tricky schemes. Satan is so cunning with his deception that many people are happily going about with their lives even as they are being deceived by the Devil. Satan is the deceiver of the human heart and the defiler that turns human beings into filthy sinners. He is trying to deceive us into forsaking the Truth in return for fleshly pleasures. He is doing everything possible to prevent people from being drawn to the gospel of the water and the Spirit. The way how Satan works on human beings is by promising them material prosperity, enticing them to replace the Truth with fleeting carnal pleasures. The end result of all this is the certain death of the human soul.
This is so evident when we look at how Satan tries to work among us the righteous or non believers. It’s true that we often have to endure material losses while preaching the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Nonetheless, the only wish that we the redeemed have is to stand firmly by trusting in the Word of God, to never be enslaved by the Devil again, and to live as the servants of the righteousness of God. And we also want this for all the believers in the gospel of the water and the Spirit who are following in our footsteps.
Whereas we are preaching the gospel to everyone all across the world, Satan and his servants are trying hard to deceive the hearts of the believers in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. By deceiving people’s hearts with false Christian doctrines, the Devil is preventing them from coming to the righteousness of God. However, so long as we have faith in the righteousness of God in all things, we can indeed stand up against Satan and overcome him. We believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit so that we would prosper in both body and soul. Likewise, it’s because I want you to flourish in God’s sight that I am asking you to be united with His servants. It is to prevent Satan from planting himself in your heart and faith.
I look at Satan’s servants as fools because they cannot recognize the Church that is preaching the gospel of the water and the Spirit to them. Far from recognizing God’s Church, they actually think it’s the same as any church in this world. Even as they compare and weigh different churches, they are too confused to discern the one true Church from all the false ones. There are some people even in God’s Church who still haven’t made up their mind to live only for the gospel and are instead thinking about leaving the Church. We have no choice but to say to them, “You have already received the remission of your sins by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. So you belong to the Lord now. God’s Church is where you ought to be. But if you still want to leave God’s Church, then go wherever you would like to go. One thing that’s clear though, is that you have to go to a church that preaches the gospel of the water and the Spirit. But remember that this gospel is preached nowhere else but God’s Church. Yet do you still want to go to another church regardless of whether it’s preaching the gospel of the water and the Spirit or not? If that’s what you want, then there is nothing we can do to stop you.”
Of course, it hurts our hearts to say these things. But we have no lingering attachment to anyone who devalues this genuine gospel. After all, we can preach this true gospel to another soul that still does not know it. And since we are doing God’s work, we are confident that God Himself will raise more workers among the born-again saints of the world if they are needed. We are sure that God will bring even more souls into our fold and raise even more workers for us. Even among those who profess to believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, there still are some people who don’t recognize God’s Church. While we do everything possible to admonish them to stay in God’s Church, if they absolutely refuse to listen to us, then we don’t try to hold them back anymore.
Right now, God’s Church is working hard to save every lost soul from all the sins of the world. But we are not working to gather together anyone who despises the righteousness of God. Such people have nothing to do with us who truly believe in God. But the greedy false prophets of this world don’t care whether or not people believe in the righteousness of God, as Satan stirs them up to gather together such people and exploit them only to enrich themselves. For instance, there once was a Christian leader in Korea who put so much emphasis on church offerings that whenever there were new church attendees, he insisted on preaching the gospel personally to them so long as they were rich. In fact, he went as far as saying that the gospel should be preached to the rich first, and he justified this on the grounds that a poor church could not preach the gospel effectively. The logic behind this was that having rich members meant a rich church, and a rich church in turn meant more members. So this leader accumulated a great deal of wealth for himself, but he ended up completely drifting away from the spiritual dominion.
What’s more, this church leader thought that whenever the congregation prayed to God during the worship service, he himself had to pray on behalf of the whole congregation. So he always made sure that he was the only person to pray during the worship service, while everyone else in his church just said amen after him. In such a church, no one has to pray aloud or call on the name of the Lord. In some ways it may seem as though this kind of church is more composed and orderly than our Church. But it is completely missing the Truth as the Lord said to us, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you”’ (Matthew 7:7). Yet this is how Satan is working among so many Christians nowadays, by blowing fleshly greed into their hearts.
Begin Your Battle of Faith
The Lord said that it’s a battle of faith for the saints not to surrender to the power and words of the Devil, but to preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit steadfastly. Our spiritual battle is all about saving people’s souls from their sins. We are doing this work of saving the soul with the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. That we are waging spiritual war against the Devil means that we are saving people through the true gospel, never surrendering ourselves to any false gospel.
Our spiritual battle is not fought by relying on our own human passions, although this is clearly what the Devil prefers, as he likes it when we are stirred up in a fit of passion and rely on our own strength to fight him. The Devil is also pleased when we seek fleshly riches rather than serving and preaching the gospel of the water and the Spirit. He is delighted when we rely on our own fleshly strength to carry on with our lives. Satan’s intent is to make us believe that whatever victory we have won has been achieved by our own work and efforts. Anyone who seeks the riches of the flesh even as he calls himself a servant of God is nothing more than a servant of Satan. And it’s better for God’s Church not to have such people.
We believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and we are rejoiced to preach the righteousness of God in our lives. So we must live by the grace of God and serve the gospel of the water and the Spirit all the time. We must fight for the sake of the gospel of the water and the Spirit and never give into our enemies. To do so, we must follow the will of God’s Church.
However, the problem is that some people in God’s Church are more preoccupied with their own affairs than God’s work. We can find a typical example of this in 3 John verse 9, which says, “But Diotrephes, who loves to have the preeminence among them, does not receive us.” The only goal that such a person has is to find a way to exalt himself and elevate his own status in God’s Church, and this can only mean that he has already fallen into the evil wiles of Satan.
To Clinch Victory, We Must Arm Ourselves with the Word of God
Now that we have received the remission of our sins by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, we are bound to come into conflict with Satan, and the outcome of this battle depends on whether or not we really trust in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. For us to win in this battle, we must take the Word of God. The Bible says that the Word of God is like a sword. It’s also crucial for us to take the shield of faith into our spiritual battle. Whenever Satan tries to deceive us with his lies, we must discern them with the Word of God and stand against the Devil by faith.
The gospel that today’s Christians believe in is not the true gospel of God—that is, it is not the gospel of the water and the Spirit. But it is the will of God for each and every Christian to believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and that is why we are doing this work of God for every lost soul.
It’s also God’s will for us to raise and nurture new workers who would preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit as God’s servants. God’s servants are not there just to ensure their worldly prosperity. So it’s evil to try to undermine God’s servants who preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit. That’s not doing God’s work. The work we do to preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit is God’s work, not the Devil’s work. All who don’t live for the gospel of the water and the Spirit will fall into Satan’s temptation.
The Word of God is absolutely indispensable for us to discern every lie and every evil wile of Satan. It’s with the Word of God that we can discern and judge correctly. And whenever we look at what’s going on in the Church, it is also with the Word of God that we can see whether or not it’s the work of the Holy Spirit.
Most churches are just trying to accumulate worldly riches and expand their influences. Satan uses such greedy pastors for his work. When we look at what the Devil has been doing to this very day, we can see that this is how he has always worked. The word “principalities” that’s mentioned in today’s Scripture passage refers to the rulers of nations. When we look at Satan’s work, we can see that the Devil worked through the rulers of this world, whether in the days of the Old Testament or the New Testament.
During the Early Church era, all the Apostles believed in and preached the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Countless people at that time heard the gospel of the water and the Spirit from the Apostles. The gospel that the Apostles preached so energetically in the days of the Early Church is none other that the gospel of the water and the Spirit. However, to undermine the Truth preached by the Apostles, Satan used the power of a man named Constantine. When this man became the emperor of Rome, he approved Christianity as a state religion. As life was made so much easier for Christians, Constantine was able to weaken their hearts, enticing them to compromise with the secular authorities of this world. This is how Satan works.
Paul admonished us to “quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one” (Ephesians 6:16), and this means that we must thwart Satan’s attacks by trusting in the gospel of the water and the Spirit that our Lord gave us. Satan is trying to extinguish the real Truth and the real faith with his evil wiles. He incites fleshly desires in our hearts constantly. He stirs up carnal greed in us so that we would be tempted to seek only fleshly success. In other words, the Devil entices us to pay more attention on increasing the number of the congregation than preaching the gospel of the water and the Spirit to the lost souls.
The biggest temptation when ministering God’s Church is the allure of increased membership. If our ministers are not careful, they can easily fall into this temptation and end up paying much more attention on how to increase the size of the congregation rather than how to live a proper life of faith before God. Satan has been using this trick from long ago, and he has succeeded in this scheme to some degree. And even now, his servants are addicted to this same trick. Too many people are being deceived by such evil and dirty wiles of Satan.
But we must take the living Word of God by faith, use the shield of faith, and thereby defeat all the dirty wiles of the Devil. None of us should ever fall into such a mistake. God’s servants should not be preoccupied with the size of their congregation. If God brings more souls to us, we should be grateful, and if this is not the case, we should pray for the lost souls and look for them. How about you then? Do you go out looking for lost souls? Or are you content with the status quo, thinking that you’ve done enough? All of us ought to go out to look for lost souls and work hard to save them. Taking the Word of God by faith, we must attack and extinguish the work of the wicked. We should never succumb to self-complacency steeped in fleshly thoughts.
The Bible says that we must take the Word of God so that we “may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand” (Ephesians 6:13). As this passage makes it clear, it’s absolutely indispensable for all of us to follow God and live by faith. Only when we walk by faith in God’s sight can we all stand upright without any shame when the day comes for us to stand in the presence of the Lord.
It is not right for us to elevate ourselves while claiming to do God’s work. Whoever belongs to God must just strive to save others’ souls by trusting in the righteousness of God. All of us must take the Word of God and with this faith save as many souls as possible. Our battle is not a physical battle. It is a spiritual warfare. It is a battle of faith. We are waging war for the sake of the Truth to defend our faith in the Word of God. What is important is not how we can increase our church membership, but whether or not we are able to save so many souls who are suffering in Satan’s clutch even now.
It is not we who loved God, but it is God who loved us first. But even as God loves us all, if we seek just our own interests instead of sharing God’s love with everyone else, then we will no doubt end up turning into unscrupulous charlatans. The wicked Devil will make sure that this happens to us.
To stand against the wiles of the Devil, all of us must put on the whole armor of God by believing in His Word. Satan’s wiles are evil and cunning beyond description. To defeat such wicked wiles, we must put on the whole armor of God by faith and stand up to the Devil. Even though the wicked Devil tempts us into thinking that the gospel of life would be spread even more effectively if our influence grows, this actually is not the case. Satan is just trying to trick us into obsessing about increasing our worldly influence. And with this trick, he is trying to delude us into thinking that we should rely on our own strength to preach the gospel of life. But to give into such a temptation is to surrender to the evil wiles of the Devil.
The Word of God is not preached by exercising our influence based on a large congregation. It’s by faith that we must take the Word of God, and it’s by trusting in this Word that we must reach out to sinners and save their souls. The problem, however, is that there still are some people in God’s Church who think that they are living by faith when they don’t even know that they had actually died in Christ. We need to teach such saints that they had already died with Christ for their sins, and that they have now risen with Christ; it’s absolutely important for us to nurture our saints so that they would live a genuine life of faith. And we must continue to preach Jesus Christ’s gospel of life to save as many sinners as possible. None other than this is God’s work.
God’s Church is where the believers in the gospel of the water and the Spirit are gathered together, and when the Church’s influence increases, it may shift its orientation to draw in more souls. But there is a big spiritual pitfall with this, and it is that the people drawn indiscriminately into the Church in this way may actually be tares rather than the wheat.
Therefore, whenever we have new believers wanting to join our Church, it is very important for us to examine their faith carefully and to make sure that they do in fact believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Satan has always worked in the name of Jesus to this very day, and he will continue to do so in the future. With his evil wiles, the Devil will continue to tempt us to wrestle against flesh and blood rather than spiritual foes. As we go into our spiritual battle, therefore, it’s absolutely crucial for all of us to know what kinds of evil tricks Satan uses, and see through the cunning trickery that’s hidden deep in his wiles. The Devil’s goal is to prevent us from preaching the gospel of the water and the Spirit to anyone else.
So if there is anyone among us who tempts us to elevate ourselves and prevents us from serving the righteousness of God, then we know for sure that this person is not a servant of God. Such people entice us to gratify our own fleshly desires and serve another man more than God Himself, and by doing so, they are in fact helping Satan to achieve his goal, which is ruining our ministry of spreading the gospel of the water and the Spirit. All of us must realize this clearly.
That is why the Apostle Paul told us here in today’s Scripture passage to put on the whole armor of God. Paul admonished us like this so that we would all be able to withstand the evil day and stand boldly in the Lord’s presence after having done every work of God. That is why Paul told us to take the whole armor of God. That we should put on the Word of God means that we should believe in it and that we should take the Word means that we should wage our spiritual war by trusting in God’s Word.
So, I ask you not to try to do God’s work by relying on your own human faculty, whether it’s your eloquent speech or your intelligence. Instead, you must work by trusting in the Word of God. All of us must believe in God’s Word, make this Word the standard to govern every aspect of our ministry, and strive to serve the righteousness of the Lord according to the Word. That’s because Satan is constantly trying to deceive us the believers in the gospel of the water and the Spirit so that we would fall into a carnal life. The Devil is always looking for every opportunity to make us fall into the lusts of the flesh. This means that Satan is trying to make us succumb to the currents of this world and fall into the righteousness of man rather than surrendering ourselves to the righteousness of God.
We must therefore stand against the evil wiles of the Devil with the Word of God until we overcome him in victory. Rather than trying to establishing our own righteousness and exalt ourselves, we ought to rely on the righteousness of the gospel and exalt God. And to achieve this, we have to fight the Devil with the shield of faith and the whole armor of the Word of God in our spiritual battle.
True Faith Is Based on the Written Word of God
All of us are more than able to stand against Satan as long as we wage our spiritual battle by believing in the Word of God. However, if you yourself can’t trust in the Word of God, then you cannot help but fall when the Devil tempts you. Only when you have unwavering faith in the Word of God can you reject Satan’s temptations and stand against him when he attacks you. It’s therefore absolutely imperative for us to have faith in God’s Word when we stand up to the servants of Satan.
Unless we have the Word of God in our hearts as the barometer of our faith, it will be impossible for us to discern what is right from what is wrong, and consequently we will ultimately lose our spiritual battle. When you go into your spiritual battle, you have to first discern your enemies clearly and know how wicked they are before you can stand up to them. If you otherwise can’t even discern your spiritual foes, thinking that they have both good and bad sides, then you can’t really stand against them with any determination. In other words, if you think ambivalently that not every claim of your enemies is wrong, you can’t really fight them with all your resolve. Far from it, you will end up being devoured by them.
The Devil does not attack us just with obviously evil things. Rather, Satan often uses the Word of God to deceive us, twisting the Word so that we would ultimately stand up against the righteousness of God. It’s therefore absolutely imperative for all of us to have unwavering faith in the righteousness of God to resist Satan’s wiles. We must stand up to the Devil by our faith in the Word of God, serve the Lord to preach His gospel, serve the Church, and serve other souls.
God’s Church Alone Delivers the Word of God, the Holy Spirit, and the True Christian Faith
As all of us believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, we all have the Word of God and the Holy Spirit in our hearts. It’s none other than God’s Church that preaches the gospel of the water and the Spirit with both the Holy Spirit and the Word of God that abide in it. It’s in God’s Church that you can find the true faith that’s placed in the Word of God and the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Having admonished us to “take up the whole armor of God” (Ephesians 6:13), the Apostle Paul went on to say: “Above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak” (Ephesians 6:16-20).
Paul called himself “an ambassador in chains” here because at the time of his writing, he was chained and imprisoned in Rome. Only when Paul was chained as a criminal could he go to Rome, for he had to preach the Word of God there also. In other words, the Apostle Paul was glad to be in chains according to the will of God because he could preach the gospel to the high-ranking officials of the Roman Empire. He had gone to Rome willingly in chains even though he could have avoided it. Like this, the Apostle Paul never worked for his own fleshly interests. For what did he work then? He always worked to expand the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
All of us must be united with God’s Church and stand against Satan with the Word of God. Whenever the Devil works to deceive us, we must stand up to him by our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. For us to elevate ourselves, seek our own comfort, or attempt to expand our worldly influence is to fall into the evil wiles of Satan. Even though the Devil constantly tries to stir up such carnal desires in us, we must throw them all away. We must instead trust in the Word preached by God’s Church, spread the gospel of the water and the Spirit by this faith, and devote all our effort to saving each and every lost soul one by one.
We Must Be Strong in Our Faith in the Word of God
All of us living in these evil days must take the Word of God and wage our spiritual war tirelessly. And we must win this war by faith. Unless our hearts have faith in the Word of God, we too will fall into Satan’s wiles. If we really have wholehearted faith in God’s Word, on the other hand, we can all overcome and triumph over Satan no matter what kind of temptation and what kind of persecution come on our way. Only when we stand firmly on the Word of God by unwavering faith and arm ourselves with this Word of God can we live as the Lord’s servants until the last day. Under no circumstances should we ever allow ourselves to be deceived by the Devil to seek the approval of someone else other than God.
It may seem quite appealing if our faith were widely approved by the people of this world. But we shouldn’t be happy just because we are approved by someone else, nor should we feel discouraged when we are not, only to end up neglecting God’s work. Rather, we should reflect ourselves on the Word of God to see whether or not our faith is right. What we should be really concerned about, in other words, is whether or not our faith is right when reflected on God’s Word. If we cannot find any concrete evidence of faith in our hearts when we reflect ourselves on the Word of God, then we ought to admit that we are not God’s servants. But if we examine ourselves before God and see that we truly believe in His Word, then we can live as the true workers of faith. Above all, we must stand up to the Devil with the Word of God.
Do you know just how evil this age is? We the believers in the gospel of the water and the Spirit have sometimes been accused of heresy by some Evangelicals who also claim to be born again. They have even accused us of heresy just because sometimes we pray to God out loud, but where is it written in the Bible that praying aloud is of heresy? Such absurd claims are made just to stand up against us and prevent the gospel of the water and the Spirit from being spread. These servants of Satan lie even to the new believers who have just recently received the remission of sins by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. They do everything possible to make such vulnerable young believers stumble, saying to them, “Don’t the believers pray aloud in that church when they worship? Don’t they even laugh at the hour of worship? Then they are all heretics!” However, God said that if anyone causes such young believers to stumble, He would curse him to be cast into the sea with a millstone hung around his neck.
As we carry out God’s work, we can see how the real heretics work so hard to denounce us. Every day these heretics teach their followers that they alone are right, boasting of how large and influential their own denominations are. But these misguided Christians are actually trapped in the wiles of Satan. When people fall into such a cunning trap, they themselves do not know that they are trapped.
Unless we the believers in the gospel of the water and the Spirit are careful, it’s possible for us to also be hurt by the servants of Satan. This problem often arises when God’s Church begins to flourish. This is a vulnerable time for God’s servants as it is when Satan tempts them to make compromises with a false gospel just to increase the size of the congregation. But we must remember God’s commandment to defend our faith. Wherever we plant God’s Church, it’s done to preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit to the lost souls in that region one by one and save them from their sins step by step, not just to enlarge the size of our membership.
We should preach God’s gospel to the lost souls one by one and pay close attention to them individually. Realizing how Satan is trying to obstruct our gospel ministry in these end times, we must take up the Word of God by faith and live by this faith. It’s absolutely important for all of us to always have the Word of God with us and be able to discern with this Word what the right faith is. Only when we take up the Word of God by faith and live by this faith can we defeat the evil wiles of Satan and overcome him. Otherwise we will once again fall into confusion.
Do you believe in the whole Word, in the 66 Books of the Bible, from both the Old and New Testaments? Believing in every Word of God is absolutely indispensable to serving the Lord. If we ever fail to serve the gospel of the water and the Spirit, it’s never because our circumstances are too difficult. Rather, whether or not we are able to serve the gospel depends entirely on whether or not our hearts have faith in the Word of God. What we need is the unwavering faith that’s firmly planted in the Word of God.
If we really believe in God’s Word, then the gospel of the water and the Spirit will surely be spread all over the world. I have every confidence that God will be with us always until the very end of the world. When we step into the world to preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit, our God will bring even more souls to us and provide for all our needs. We will realize this once we put all our hearts’ faith in the Word of God. Therefore, as long as our hearts have faith in the Word of God, the gospel of the water and the Spirit will be spread without fail.
Our circumstances are never difficult so long as we believe in the Word of God with all our hearts. Such circumstances are no problem at all. It’s only when we don’t believe in God’s Word with all our hearts that our difficult circumstances can become a challenging issue; as long as there is faith in God’s Word in our hearts, there is no problem at all. Victory, in other words, is ours as long as we believe in the Word of God with all our hearts.
So, if we have faith in God’s Word, then the gospel of the water and the Spirit through which the Lord has saved us from all our sins will never disappear even if this world were to disappear. Even if this world disappears right before our own eyes, our Lord promised us to give us new heavens and a new earth. Therefore, no blessing that God has given us will ever disappear. God is with us always, and this means that no matter what our circumstances may be, God is always pleased by those who preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and He always helps them every step of the way. The Lord’s promise to answer the saints’ prayer is also effective. Therefore, even if our circumstances are difficult, as long as we have faith in the Word of God, we can all overcome the evil wiles of Satan and save countless souls.
Faith in the Will of God Triumphs over the Wicked One
My fellow believers, if you really desire to live for God and the spreading of the gospel of the water and the Spirit, God Himself will defend your faith and take care of all your life. Such faith is absolutely indispensable to all of us. Even though our circumstances may be difficult and we may not see that many tangible results right away, if we trust in God wholeheartedly, everything will go well according to our faith. But if we don’t believe in the righteousness of God with all our hearts, God’s work will eventually come to a halt even if it may seem to go well at first.
It is therefore absolutely imperative for all of us to have faith in the Word of God. Above all, we must take the shield of faith and thwart our enemies’ attack by faith. And taking the sword of the Word of God, we must defeat the evil wiles of Satan. This is the will of God for all of us. We have to defeat evil by trusting in God’s righteousness. Unless we have this faith in the righteousness of God and the gospel of the water and the Spirit, our own souls will perish.
Don’t you need a shield to protect yourself when you are attacked? Of course you do. And that’s why it’s so important for us to have faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, for we can then thwart any and all attacks. Whenever we are attacked by Satan, we must stand against him by our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. If we have faith in the Word of God, then we can discern Satan’s attack and stand up to him, saying to him, “The Word of God says that the gospel of the water and the Spirit is right. So I believe in this true gospel.” Your faith in the Word of God is your shield. With this shield of faith, we can extinguish all the work of Satan and overcome him in all things. It’s by faith that we must defeat all the cunning wiles of the wicked Devil and all his dirty tricks.
I cannot emphasize enough just how indispensable it is for all of us to have faith in the Word of God. Only when we have this unwavering faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit and the righteousness of God can we overcome this evil world. Do you know just how many wicked foes are standing against us the believers in the gospel of the water and the Spirit? There are so many people opposing us. We must defeat them all by our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. What matters to us is not what anyone else says, but what God Himself said. That is the basis of our entire faith.
Indeed, not only should we defend ourselves from our spiritual foes with the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit, but we should also counterattack them with this genuine gospel. So long as we believe in the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit, we can all thwart any attack coming from the wicked. No matter how ferociously the wicked attack us, we are more than able to thwart them all, for we have the gospel of the water and the Spirit as our sturdy shield of faith. We must therefore take this shied of faith above all armors to wage our spiritual battle. As we are now living in the end times, it’s that much more imperative for us to take up the Word of God by faith.
Let me draw an example here to explain what it means to take up the Word of God by faith. Paul said in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ.” When you read this passage, you should realize that it’s not just the Apostle Paul who was crucified with Christ, but you yourself were also crucified with Christ. In other words, Jesus Christ did not die just for the Apostle Paul, but He bore all your sins and mine also through His baptism and died on the Cross for us. That we were crucified with Jesus means that our old selves were put to death in Jesus Christ. Our old selves had already died together with Jesus on the Cross. And we have risen with the resurrection of Christ. All that remains for us to attain our victory is to just believe in this Word of God and stand up to the Devil by faith, realizing, “I had also died with Christ, but now I am living as a righteous person. I have become a new creature!” Like this, it’s absolutely imperative for us to believe in the Word of God and take it up as our shield of faith.
All of us face countless difficulties throughout our entire lifetime. The trials that come on our way are not just a few, nor are our opponents just a handful. Just as you have faced all kinds of difficult circumstances and seemingly insurmountable obstacles in your life, so will you continue to face them in the future. Indeed, your trials will only get more difficult as time goes by. That is why you must have faith in the Word of God and stand against the evil wiles of the Devil.
As We Wage Our Spiritual War Every Day, We Will Ultimately Put on the Crown of Victory
It’s not to seek our own fleshly prosperity that we are serving the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Serving the gospel is far removed from an idyllic life. Far from it, it is all about waging a war of faith in our everyday lives. And this spiritual war is fought by serving the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Everyday we thwart Satan’s attacks with our spiritual shield of faith, every day we stand against the Devil, and every day we prevail over him. It’s very important to realize that it’s a pitched battle to live out your faith. If we the believers in the righteousness of Jesus really want to serve the gospel of the water and the Spirit more, we must then be glad to go into our spiritual battle. This battle is not a struggle against flesh and blood, but it is a spiritual struggle. Brothers and sisters alike, all of us are waging a spiritual battle against the Devil with one shield of our common faith. Not a waken moment goes by when we don’t engage in this spiritual battle.
When we turn to the Old Testament, we see 30 warriors arising in the days of King David. These were brave warriors. They won countless battles, and they also took their countless enemies captive. As the faithful servants of King David, these warriors were only too happy to wage war every day. Similarly in God’s Kingdom, those who save many souls are those whose faith is strong. No righteous saint should ever be reluctant to go into a spiritual battle. Rather than wasting their time in a useless struggle, all the righteous saints ought to live as Christ’s soldiers, standing up against the Devil and saving as many lost souls as possible. So, if any servant of Satan comes knocking on your door to fight you, I ask you to never shun from this fight.
With enough experience, it’s actually quite exciting to engage in a spiritual battle. Even though you may have dreaded to wage such a battle for the first time, try living for the righteousness of God by faith. Once you actually wage your spiritual war, you will soon enjoy the experience, for it is a spiritual struggle that’s fought to save the lost soul. We are not trying to destroy anyone physically.
All the righteous saints must fight their spiritual war by faith. The exhilaration you feel when you fight and defeat the Devil with your faith in the Word of God cannot be felt anywhere else. And this exhilaration is not afforded to just anyone. It can be felt only by those who have become the spiritual soldiers of Christ. No righteous saint should ever hesitate to fight the Devil. If you really want to carry out God’s work and serve the gospel of the water and the Spirit, then you should never be reluctant to stand up to your spiritual foes. All of us must wage our spiritual battle by trusting in the Word of God. Only when we fight by trusting in God can we stand against the Devil and overcome him.
Individually, we are too weak-hearted not to succumb to fear, and therefore it’s absolutely indispensable for all us to be united with God’s Church, wage our spiritual battle together, and prevail over Satan by our common faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. No matter what hardship you face, no matter who is opposing you, and no matter what accusation your foes throw at you, never fall into despair, but always wage your spiritual battle courageously by trusting in the Word of God in all things.
Ready yourself and prepare your faith to see through Satan’s cunning strategy. You can serve the gospel only if you stand against the Devil by trusting in the Word of God. In each and every spiritual battle we fight, let us all emerge victorious by faith and glorify God. Let us all glorify God by placing all our faith in God.
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